Chicago MD
by Crashnet
Summary: What happens when a few of House's former fellows start working at County Hospital in Chicago. Some old friends and brand new faces. Consider this a Spinoff of  H ouse featuring Martha Masters.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note. This is my first attempt at fan fiction. truth is I'm used to write specs scripts in screenplay format so if this is a little off let me know. But this story is about what would happen if a few of House's former fellows starting working together. Oh and there will be plently of Oringional Charaters. So consider this a spin off of [H]ouse. Enjoy.

Chapter 1

The Priest enters the church and everybody stands for the opening hymn. All but one, who decides to stay seated because she was dragged to church. LeAnn Anderson could not believe that she was here, sitting in church, attending mas for the first time in six years. A lot of things have happened since the last time she was here. She was about to enter college and start a whole new chapter in her life. Then all of a sudden, one blow after another, life was tearing her apart and all she did was pray and it got her nowhere. It was her will to keep going that got her there. Six years later, she gained a Bachelor's and a MBA and lost her faith in the God that she once always looked to for guidance. That part of her life was gone and now all she wanted to do was get out of this place as fast as she can. Her family had practically dragged her down here just so they can say that their entire family still attends Mass as a family. LeAnn certainly didn't want to be there, but even though she isn't believe in God anymore, somehow that damn Catholic guilt remained, Damn she wished she could just get rid of it.

It was during the Kyrie that she began to feel the tightness in her chest. That was when she saw the look on her father's face from the altar as he stood next to the priest as he spoke. The feeling was strange, it was like all of a sudden she couldn't breathe, and as she was trying to bring her arms up, that's when she notice that's when she noticed that she couldn't lift her arms. She couldn't move, and adding to the fact that she couldn't breathe, she started to panic. It was then her sister noticed that something was wrong a screamed. Everyone stopped praying to turn as LeAnn fell to the floor. That's when everything went dark.

OPENING CREDITS

Chapter 2

As she enters through the doors of Chicago County hospital, she was still a little unsure of herself. She left a great school and a great program. She'll never admit it, but she left a great teacher. But here she was a new chapter in the life that was Martha Meredith Masters. Little miss genius and prodigy extraordinaire and now first year resident. She was scared out of her mind. She thought that she would be prepared for this, after all when you've work for Gregory House, you should be prepared for anything. But not this, not the ER.

Masters quickly and quietly walks into the locker room and puts her bag into the locker furthest from the door, away from everyone else as they gather and make nice with each other. Master looks at all of the new residents in the ER program and realizes that she has her work cut out for her as she walks out of the locker room as quickly as she went in. She was moving so fast that she didn't even realize the six foot tall dark hair young man in front of her. Next thing she knows, she's on the ground.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there" He reaches out his hand a helps Masters up off the ground. Masters dusts herself off as she picks up her lab cost off the ground. "You Okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm used to be knocked around a bit actually." Masters looks up and gets a very long look at him, suddenly feeling more awkward then before. She didn't even think that was possible. The young man extends him arm to her. "You must be new. I'm Thomas Prichard, 2nd year resident." Master focuses long enough to extend her hand in return. "Martha M. Masters, first year resident."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Martha M. Masters. I hope you find this hospital to your liking." Masters puts on her lab coat as she begins to walk down the hall. Prichard follows her as he helps her with her coat and asks. "Are you always this quiet or you have the first day jitters?"

"A little of both, this is certainly not what I'm used to." Prichard looks at her, "and what is that?" Masters stops and looks at him and says, "Not being yelled at." Prichard just chuckles at her and shows her to the rest of the first year residents as they all gather in the lobby. "Just you wait until you meet the chief." Masters looks at him with a look that was sure panic. "What do you mean by that?"

Prichard didn't have time to answer as everyone heard foots steps coming from down the hall. Steps that were made from high end sneakers. The five foot six inch tall, blue-eyed, brunette emerged from around the corner not in a lab coat but wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt and her hair tied back. She had obviously come from a run and didn't look like she was in any good mood at all. Suddenly Master felt the blood leave her face and thought she was going to faint until the woman opened her mouth to speak.

"Gather around, newbies because I'm only going to say this once. My Name is Dr. Jennifer Bell. I am the Chief of this Hospital's ER. And you are here for your first round in Emergency Room rotation." Bell begins to look at each and every single one and striking fear into their souls. Which for a five foot six tall women; she was doing a pretty good job. "You are here for a ninety day rotation and those who can't hack it will be cut. You main job is to get the patients in and out as fast as you can without killing them. You will each have a quota to fulfill each week, and if you have not filled your quota at the end of said week, you will be cut from my ER and will spend the rest of the 90 days changing bandages in the burn ward. DO I make myself clear?"

The residents, including Masters looked around and began to wonder what the hell they had gotten themselves into. But willing to continue, Masters accepts the challenge as does the rest of the group. After the residents get their assignments and leave, Bell spots Masters from the back and looks directly at her. "Masters, you're with me."

Masters shows the look of terror on her face as Prichard hands her the file she nearly dropped. He wishes her good luck and walks away. Masters slowly walked toward Bell as she started toward the doors of the ER. Bell just gave her the once over and chuckled slightly and kept walking. "I was told that you were going to be entertaining." Masters gives her a confused look. "And who said that I was entertaining?" Bell keeps going as Masters follows her into the nurses' station in the middle of the ER. "The same person who recommended you for this program. And believe me, you were highly recommended. So don't screw this up."

Masters tries to wrap her head around the fact that someone gave her a great recommendation and had no idea why. She didn't leave Princeton Plainsboro on the best of terms. Even the Dean was upset that she had just up a quit both her job in the diagnostics department and transferred out of the university. So to think that someone gave her one was something that she was grateful for.

"Of course," Bell continued, "that same person said that you could still use a little seasoning as they called it." Bell finally stops and looks at her and hands her a file. Masters locks eyes with Bell and sees the seriousness in them. "You're smart, but you're book smart. Here, you need to learn how to think on your feet. Trust your medical instincts and not second guess yourself. This isn't the diagnostics department where you sit in a room for the most part of the day. You are on your feet, you are moving around and you are doing what you can to patch these people of and have them move on with their lives. Most will survive, but you will lose some as well. You need to learn to deal with that. If you can't then you're in the wrong profession. You think you can handle it?" Masters takes the file from her hands, still looking into her cold blue eyes. "Yes, I can." Masters opens the file and begins to read through it. Bell lets go of the file and begins to walk away, but not before she says, "Then get to work, Dr. Masters. There are a lot of sick people here that we need to get rid of." Bell walks off smiling. Oh this was going to be a very interesting week.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Masters is at hour fifteen of a thirty-six hour shift not the greatest first day, but not the worse either. She spent the most of it picking windshield glass our of people's head and stitching wounds from a bar fight. It was easy, it was simple, It was boring. She never thought that working in the ER at a hospital would be this dull. Then again, after working for Greg House for as long as she had, she was surprised that she hadn't picked up any other habits from him. She was in the middle of stitching the upper arm of a bar owner when the doors opened and the EMTs roll in 26-year-old LeAnn Anderson as she still struggles to breath regardless of the fact that she had been intubated. Masters continues to look as they reel her into one of the rooms. Bell follows behind the EMTs as they explain LeAnn symptoms to her. Masters looks and notices that LeAnn has her arms in an awkward angle and that they were not moving.

Bell looks up at Masters and sees her staring back. "Hey Masters, you might want to finish with that guy before you start over here." Masters looks back at the guy she's been working on and quickly finishes the stitches. She put dressing over the wound and tells him that a nurse will be there to discharge him soon. Masters rushes over to the exam room Bell was in as she was finishing her initial exam. Bell continues to look at LeAnn when she speaks to her. "Dr. Masters, we have a 26-year-old female with respiratory failure and partial upper body paralysis. Diagnosis?" Masters looks at LeAnn as her family waits outside, she looks into LeAnn's eyes and checks the dilation of her pupils before she continues. "Patient more than likely suffered a stroke, we should do a MRI to confirm and work from a Prognosis from there." Bell nods in agreement and has LeAnn sent up for an MRI. Masters follows her up while Bell went to talk to the parents.

Masters continued her work a few hours, and then was able to take a break and sit down at the nurses station to finish her charting when Prichard sits down in front of her. "Enjoying your first rotation?" Masters looks up from her file and shows what could be interpreted as a smile. "As far as charting goes, yes. Patients on the other hand, I feel like I'm gonna get my head bitten off by Dr. Bell." Prichard just lightly chuckles at her as he grabs a folder from the in box. "Well, she can be a hand full, considering she's only had the job for about two years now." Masters looks back down at her file and continues to write in the chart. "Two years? And I thought Dr. House was difficult to work for." Prichard looks up from the file he had in hands as it dropped to the floor. "You used to work for Greg House?" Masters didn't have time to answer as she notice Dr. Bell staring at the MRI scans of their most recent patient.

"Dr. Bell? Is something wrong?" Bell looks at her annoyed and then stares back at the scans. "Here are the patients MRI scans, tell me what you see." Masters pulls out her glasses as she looks at the scans, her eyes widen in shock. "I don't see anything. If she didn't suffer a stroke, what was the cause of the paralysis?" Prichard stands behind Masters as he also looks at the scans. "Now that would be the million dollar question, now wouldn't it?" Just as Bell was able to make a smart ass retort, her cell phone rand ans she answered. "Bell. I'm looking at them right now. What? You can't do that. Because she's my patient, so who …It was Ally wasn't it? She's a self-righteous pain in the ass that's why." Bell was about to continue her rant when the phone was cut off. Masters and Prichard looked at her and then at each other, trying to figure out what just happened. As Masters was about to ask, Bell takes off towards the elevators. Prichard stands next to Masters as they watch her storm off. "Who do you think pissed her off?" Prichard still staring at their boss, "Only one person."

Bell barges into the fairly decently sized office and walks right up to the desk. She stops and points her finger directly in front of her. "You are one self-righteous pain in the ass, Cameron. Cameron, who is still on the phone politely tells her caller that she would get back to her later. She hangs up the phone and removes her glasses. "normally, a person knocks before they enter and that's if only they get permission to come in." Bell starts to pace back and forth and looks back the blonde haired attending as she throws the MRI scans down in front of her. "Well, I would knock but I knew you wouldn't let me in. Saved us both the trouble." Cameron ends up putting her glasses back on and begins to look at the scans. "How recent are these?" Bell is still fuming and reluctantly answers, "I just got those, and you're still not taking my patient."

"You're running the ER at the moment, just like you wanted. You don't have the time to follow up on the long term patient care like can. And according to these scans, there was no stroke so something else is causing the problem. Something ovbiouslcommon." Bell stops pacing and looks straight at her. "This is your plan isn't it? You wanted a case that no one else could solve, and just maybe Daniels would begin to consider opening a diagnostics department." Cameron looks back at Bell as she puts down the scans. "This patient needs help and you don't have the time and resources to figure out what it is." Bell just stares her down and gives her a small smirk as a thought enters her mind. " You want to bet?" Cameron stares at her in disbelief, "You can't possible think that I'm going to wager as to who is going to solve this case first?" Bell keeps her smirk, "What? Afraid you'll lose? Come on first one to reach a diagnosis gets to present it to Daniels, then we'll see who gets the department."

Cameron looks at Bell, realizing that she had already been in this situation before. She weighs the pros and cons of the case. She caves "Fine, but the second the patient's health gets worse, the game stops. The patient is the first priority." Bell's smirk becomes a full smile as she extends her hand in agreement. "Always." Bell heads back out the door and as she opens it she turns back towards Cameron and says, "By the way, the blonde hair makes you look like a stripper." Cameron looks at Bell in shock as she leaves. She wonders what the hell she just gotten herself into.


	3. Chapter 3

Bell jumps out of the elevator before the doors have a chance to fully open. She hold LeAnn's file in her hands as she passes the nurses' station. She spots Prichard chatting up a storm with Masters as she tosses the file at her. Masters with almost quick reflex grabs the file and follows behind Bell along with Prichard. "We have a short window for a diagnosis here. What causes partial upper body paralysis, respiratory failure? And since we know this isn't a stroke, so." Bell stops and turns around to face the two residents, but looks directly at Masters. "Differential diagnosis?"

Those two words were all it took for Masters to smile, even if it was just a small one, it was there. She was back in her element, in an area that she thought that she can do the most good in, but a slight panic started to sink in as she realized that it was just her. No Foreman, No Chase, no Taub or thirteen. And certainly, no House. True she was the only one that had worked in this type of situation before but she always had someone to help her. She didn't know how well Prichard would be at this and it also looked like that Bell was a little too eager for this opportunity.

"Masters! Stop day dreaming and give me an idea here, you've been through this before haven't you?" Masters had jumped a little because she had no idea that she was taking that long to come up with an answer, but she finally spoke. "Since stroke is out of the question, it could be something environmental. She could have ingested something that we cause the respiratory failure." Prichard stands behind her and shakes his head. "They ran a tox screen, it's clean, and more than likely this could be something genetic." Masters, still standing her ground continues, "It might be something that wouldn't be in a normal tox screen. We would have to look for something specific." Bell looks at the two residence as her mind has been going about a mile a minute since this whole thing started. "We'll have to check the home, Masters since I know you have an ethical problem breaking into people's homes for medical reasons. Ask for permission and take Prichard with you. I'll get the history form the family. Let me know what you find." The three of them head to their assignments.

Cameron walks out of her office when she runs into her supervisor, Dr. Henry Daniels, the hospital's head administrator. Cameron usually does her best to avoid him, but she knows he would be looking for her when he found out about the wager between her and Bell. "Dr. Cameron, may I have a word with you?" Cameron is obviously wants to get away but puts on a fake smile and turns to face Daniels. "Yes, Dr. Daniels. What can I do for you today?" Daniels is slightly older gentleman with a hairline so far back that maybe he should take a transplant into consideration. "You can start as to why Dr. Bell, is still on the Anderson case." Cameron knew she wasn't going to able to wiggle her way past this topic so deflecting was out of the question, this guy was harder to deceive that her last boss and she didn't think that that was possible. "She said that she could handle it. So far I haven't heard anything that said otherwise." Cameron and Daniels both walk towards the elevator as Daniels looks at the file in his hand. "I hope that this won't affect her case load or yours for that matter." She has a group of residence to look after." Cameron stops and faces him as they wait for the elevator. "She's trying to make sure that she still has a job when her residency is up in the next few months. She wants to work her, Henry. And she wants her own department."

"I don't doubt that, Allison. She's a good doctor and I do plan to keep her. We'll see how this case goes. If she can balance both this and the ER residence, then I might put into consideration to open a diagnostics department." Cameron looked at him in disbelief. Was he really considering that? And would let Bell run the department Instead of her? This didn't make sense; Daniels knew she works for House for over three years. Who else to run a diagnostics department then someone who was a part of the first one? "And I know what you're think Allison, why not you? Truth is I'd rather have you running the department that you're in. Dr. Lewis is planning on retiring early and I'd rather have you there." Cameron realized where Daniels was coming from so she didn't want to push things any farther. She wanted to run the department since she got there but there was just something about diagnostics that just called to her. Maybe her ex-husband was right, she just loved it a little more than more. Maybe there was a little of House in here that craved the puzzles. But she had to walk away from that life, it wasn't good for her, or at least that's what she thought. "Whatever you think is best, Henry. I trust your judgment." Daniels just nods and hands her the file in his hand as he steps into the elevator that had just opened. Cameron looks at the file and notices that it's the LeAnn Anderson's file. She looks at him in confusion. Daniels just smiles. "Hey just because I want you running another department here doesn't mean I'm not going to let you help out in another. There's nothing wrong with a consult." The doors close on Daniels as Cameron smiles back. She really did trust his judgment.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Masters and Prichard enter the two story classic Victorian home with their medical kit and examination gloves. Masters looks around and realizes how surreal the feeling is. Entering a patient's home to look for toxins, it just felt right for some reason. But it still felt out of place, it might have had to do with the fact that she actually asked for permission from the patient's family instead of pilfering the keys from them. Or having one of your team members with the tools and the skills to pick a lock. This was better, she did what she came to do and didn't have to sacrifice her morals for it either.

"I'll check the bathroom, you check the bedroom?" Prichard asks her. It's not like he's ever done this before. He's heard that this was in Masters' previous job description so he was looking to her to figure out what to do. Masters nods her head as she walks out of the living room. Prichard walks towards the bathroom. You think it would be simple enough, go into a house, collect samples, get out and test them. But he felt that this was strange, normally all he would have to do was get a family and patient history and would be able to figure out what was wrong with them to begin with. That's what happens, that's what he was told in medical school, and eighty-five percent of all cases are diagnosed through a thorough medical history.

Prichard was still checking the bathroom when Masters came in. "Bedroom's clean. So clean that you can build computer chips in there." She realizes that that was probably a really bad joke that she wishes she could take back, but Prichard just smiles at her. "So how long did you work for House?" he is curiosity gets the best of him. Wonders if she's just deflect or actually answer the question. Masters just looks back at him and figures that she might as well get this over with so he won't bring up the subject again. "Less than a year." Prichard stares at her as Masters looks at the mold in the tub. She's about to take a sample of it when Prichard asks another question. "Why'd you leave?" Master takes the sample and places it in her kit. "It just wasn't a good fit." She hopes that the response would be good enough.

"Wasn't good enough? You were working with a world renowned diagnostician, as a med student no less and you're telling me it wasn't a good fit? I'd kill for that job." Masters ignores the comment as Prichard looks under the sink as she sees the very dark, black mold that was underneath. "Wait a minute, I think I got something here." He takes the sample and shows it to Masters when he was about to put the sample into his kit. "You think mold toxicity could cause the patient's symptoms?" He asks. Masters takes the sample from his hands and looks at it closely. "If it is, we have to figure out what kind."

Bell had entered the patient's room as her father was still praying for her. The Middle aged man had he rosary beads clutched into his hands as he was slightly bent over the bed as he prayed. Bell didn't really pray all that much. She did when she was a kid to please her dad since it was his job. It was only when she got older and after the accident she realized that praying was pointless. Prayer would help her, God wouldn't help her. He just didn't exist. Bell was about to ask her next question when Cameron came knocking on the door.

"Hey you have a second?" Bell looked at her questionably as she puts down the chart and headed towards the door. Bell closes the door behind her. "What's up?" Cameron holds a file and hands it to her. "Your patient's blood work came back, other than the huge amount of THC in her system; there really isn't anything else out of the ordinary." Bell looks over the file and puffs out a sigh. "Which means that whatever this is won't be shown on a normal blood panel. Which means Masters and Prichard are going to be in the pathology lab with me tonight." Bell still looking at the file suddenly raises her head and looks at Cameron suspiciously.

"Why do you have my patient's blood work? Don't you have a department to take over?" Cameron just smile at her as she answers. "I was in the lab doing a follow up and I thought I'd save you a trip, since Masters and Prichard are busy breaking into your patient's place." Bell just rolls her eyes as she hands back the file and starts walking down the hall. "First of all, Masters has a problem breaking the law, even if it's for medical purposes. Second, where my team is, is none of your concern. Besides, Masters has been keeping me updated for the past hour son I know where they are at all times." Bell smiles cheekily at her as she pushes the button for the elevator as she shows Cameron the text message that Masters sent. "Don't worry, I have everything under control and you'll have a lighter wallet." Bell steps into the elevator as the doors open. Cameron looks at Bell and smugly looks at her. "You really think that?" Bell smiles at Cameron only to say, "Double or nothing." And as the doors close, Cameron replies, "You're on."

Bell enters her small cellblock of an office and throws her lab coat on the chair. God she hated that thing, why she had to wear it she could never understand. It was unsanitary if you really thought about it. You wear the same coat to see about thirty plus patients a day and you have no idea what they have when they come in. Who knows how long the incubation period is on some of these diseases. If it was up to her she would be rid of the damn thing. Her thought process was interrupted when Prichard and Masters walked through the door and handed her the samples they had collected. "We're thinking some sort of mold toxin. Her bathroom was covered in it." Bell looked at the sample that Masters had handed over and looked at the both of them as all three of their pager went off. Bell panicked when she the message. "Damn it, patient's crashing." All three run out the room like bats out of hell to their patient's room.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 6

The three are back inside the cellblock sized office as Bell begins pacing the small room. She finally got frustrated enough that she ended up opening the door and walking into the hallway and back. "So we have a patient who's not only has a breathing tube down her throat, but now is paralyzed from the waist down. Mold toxicity wouldn't do that not that fast." Bell was getting frustrated with the frustration and stopped pacing, and turns towards her desk. Master just watches Bell as she pulls out a small rubber ball and tosses it between her hands. Prichard looks up from the file before he throws out another idea towards a group. "Maybe it's an autoimmune. Maybe Lupus?" Prichard was about to continue his explanation as Bell threw the ball towards Prichard over his head, and against the wall. Bell continues to throw the ball against the wall as Masters and Prichard keep their heads low.

"I wish you hadn't said that. It cannot be lupus. It's never lupus, but now since you said that it could be a possibility, I have to call Dr. Cameron in here for a consult. And the last thing I need is another former member of the Mod squad in here telling me what I know it isn't." Masters looks a little confused with that statement but speaks up anyway. "It doesn't necessarily have to be lupus; it could be another auto-immune disease we should still test for auto-immune." Bell caught the ball one-handed and gripped it tightly. She knew Bell was right, she knew that she had to call Cameron in on this. Just give in it's only a stupid bet, what's more important money or patient's life? Bell sits down and picks up her phone. "Start testing for autoimmune, I'll call Dr. Cameron to see if we can narrow it down a little more." The two residence walk out of the room as Bell is still on the phone.

Masters still has a small confused look on her face as she and Prichard walk towards the elevator. She finally turns to Prichard as her curiosity has gotten the better of her, "What did Bell mean another former member?" Prichard looks and smiles as he realized that Masters really didn't have a clue as to what was going on. He knew he had to tell her, she had a right to know who she was dealing with. "Dr. Cameron was a part of Dr. House's team, but she had quit a few years ago after her divorce and moved back here." Masters looks and Prichard as the door opens they both step inside. "How long did she work for House?" The doors close as they wait for the elevator to head to the pathology lab. Prichard still staring at the first report to see if they could narrow down the search for the answer. "If the rumors are true she worked for him for about four years. And if the other rumors are true she met her ex-husband there as too." The doors opened and they step out towards the lab as a light bulb clicked on in her head. "Robert Chase." It wasn't a question, she knew that had to be the answer, she knew there was a reason for him to act the way he did. Why he was such a whore going after a different woman every night. She suddenly felt sorry for him, and also understanding him a little better. They entered the lab. "I think that was his name, I heard he was British or something." Prichard holds the door open for Masters as they walk in. He then heads over to grab the blood samples they took from there patient as Masters begins to set up for the very long night of testing they have in front of them. "He's Australian actually. I worked with him for about a year." Prichard laughs at her as he hands her the samples. "Do I detect a small crush on the Aussie?" Masters just looks at him with a little disgust in that comment. "God no! He's a whore! I wouldn't wish him on my worst enemy." Sure she had a better understanding of Chase, but she still wouldn't go anywhere near him. She's not that desperate.

The morgue was quiet, cold. The pathologist had left for the night, nowhere there to bother her. Hell, no one new she was down her. Bell knew that she would be able to think without being interrupted. She needed to think, but she also wondered how pissed off Daniels would be if he knew that she written her patient's symptoms on the wall of the morgue in permanent marker. She smiled at that thought as she continued to throw the handball against the wall, staring at the symptoms, running every scenario through her brain. She was smart; she was the smartest in her family. The youngest too, hell, she was so much younger than the rest of her siblings. It was hard, not being able to connect with the rest of your brothers and sister because of a fifteen to twenty year gap between them. Just because your parents were able to conceive another child in their late forties/ early fifties, it automatically makes you the spoiled brat. No one to confide in, no one to connect with, all of her siblings were in the same business as their dad. She was the only one that wanted to go into medicine. Medicine and science were the only things that made sense to her as a kid. She was always so fascinated about how and why things worked and why they didn't. Divine intervention, as her father called it, just wasn't a good enough answer for her as she got older.

"You know, Daniels will have your head when he sees that." Cameron was leaning on the doorway as she made her presence know. Bell just rolled her eyes at Cameron as she continued to throw the ball at the wall, at the symptoms. "We missed something, and I don't have the slightest clue as to what it is." Cameron comes off the wall and closer towards Bell. She can't help but think that this behavior seems very familiar to her right now, but just can't place it. 'Masters and Prichard running the A and A?"

"Among others," Bell says as she stands up still throwing the ball up against the wall. "It's not Lupus. No matter what Prichard thinks, and I know that that is going to be the first thing that he's going to test for and it's going to be negative." She holds the ball in her hand as she turns to face Cameron. "But it's still autoimmune. I just don't know what type." Cameron sees the frustrated look on Bell's face and realizes that she did not want it to come to this. Bell places the ball on the table and looks back at the wall. "Was it always this hard? Trying to find the answers trying to take out the guess work and wanting to always be right?"

"It didn't so much want to be right, it was more like hoping. And needing to be right. We saved more patients than lost but, we were the best at what we did and sometimes it wasn't enough. We're doctors, we lose patients, it happens. But it was always harder on us because we were their last option. We just can't save them all." Bell's frustration just grew a little more as she started pacing the room. "Well, it would be nice to save this one. Instead, in morgue with the rest of the stiffs trying to figure out what the…" Bell trails off as Cameron waits for her to finish her sentence, but then realizes that she got her answer. She's seen that look on House's face too many times to count. Cameron quickly replays the conversation back in her head. Trying to figure out what either of them said that triggered that epiphany. The stiff part triggered it, she knew that for sure but what answer that she got from that she didn't have a clue. As she was about to ask her a question Bell just walks out of the room. Now that was something that she was defiantly used to.


	6. Chapter 6

_**AN- okay this is the last chapter for this story, but seriously considering a sequel with these characters. I also dedicate this ending to Katherynmae. I think that she might like this ending. And I know I don't own House, they belong to the evil genus that is David Shore. **_

Chapter 7

Bell rushes out of the stairwell after running out of patience waiting for the elevator. She gets closer to the pathology lab as she can't wait to reveal her recent discovery. She wanted to gloat, but she wanted to be sure before she did. She enters the lab unaware that Cameron was behind her, Masters and Prichard look up from their microscopes as their boss came closer. "Where are the patient's MRI scans?" Prichard looks at her in confusion, wondering if he had missed something. He knew that they had already ruled out stroke, so he didn't have a clue as to why Bell wanted the scans. Prichard hands Bell the file with the MRI report, but she cuts him off. "I don't want the report, I want the actual scans."

Masters gets up from her seat to retrieve the scans that were on the other side of the table. She was just as confused as Prichard and Dr. Cameron. "I don't understand, we already ruled out a stroke. There was nothing on scans that show signs of it."

Bell takes the scans and puts them in the light box and looks intently at the scans. "That's because I'm not looking for signs of a stroke. I'm looking for signs of something else. We've looking for a damn horse for so long that we didn't see the zebra in front of our face. What were the patient's GABA levels?" Bell turns to Prichard since he has the file in his hand; he glances down as he gives her the answer as Cameron moves closer to look at the scans. "They're a little low, but still in normal range."

Bell smiles as she now has her confirmation, she wondered if this what being right felt. She wondered if this is what it felt like for him, gloating at being the overall ruler of the diagnostic world. She had to snap out of her thoughts as Cameron asked her a question. "What are you thinking?" Bell can't hide her smirk anymore as she realized that she had told them what the patient had. She guessed it was time to let everyone in on her little secret. After all, if she didn't the patient would die and she would be in a world of trouble.

"Moersch-Woltman" Bell looks back at Cameron as she looks at the scan and makes the connection. Cameron chuckles as she finally makes a connection from this to the conversation they had down in the morgue. "Stiff-person syndrome. Explains everything, the limited movement, the paralysis, and the respiratory problems. Prichard starts to clean up his area when Bell talks to both him and Masters again. "Patient needs to start on plasmapherisis. We're also going to have to start her on intravenous immunoglobulin infusion. Her condition isn't curable but it can be managed." Prichard nodded in response as he and Masters exited the lab. Bell looks back at Cameron, "Told you it wasn't Lupus."

Masters and Prichard tell the patient, LeAnn, that she is responding well to the course of treatment that they were giving her. The two residence were still giving her an overall assessment when Dr. Cameron came into the room asking to speak to one of them for an update. Masters volunteers herself as Prichard continued to talk to the patient. Masters closes the door behind her as Cameron asks her how the patient is doing. "The patient is responding to the treatment but since it is only a short term treatment we are getting her into next month's clinical trial." Cameron nodded in response, and said that she'll handle the paper work for the trial, but there's a question that Masters is just dying to ask her since her conversation with Prichard. She decided to get it over with since the thought was going to eat away at her if she didn't, so while Cameron was looking at the Prichard talking to the patient Masters asked her, "Why did you quit working for House?" Cameron looks back at Masters in surprised and then realized the news travels faster here then it even did in Princeton. Masters realized just how uncomfortable she was at that moment so she just continued to ramble. "I mean, I know why I stopped working for House, he's overbearing, loud, drug addict who does everything he can to humiliate every one of his fellows. On know he humiliated me a few times just to show that he could. And…I'm rambling; I do that when I'm nervous." Masters just wanted to turn back the clock and wished that she just never asked the question. Cameron looks at her and sees how uncomfortable she is at the moment and realized she wasn't the only one. She knew that this was the med student that worked for House. She witnessed first-hand why this girl was picked to work with House. She was smart, she knew that much, but book smarts can only get a person so far, which is why she was here. She decided to cut Masters off before her face turn brick red from embarrassment.

"Masters, relax. Just breathe." Masters managed to stop and take a breath, but she still looked at Cameron still waiting for some sort of a response. Cameron just took a breath because she wasn't sure what she going to tell her. It's not like she can tell her that she left House's team because he poisoned her and her husband and she left him because of it. There was more to it than that, she had some real issues that she needed to work on and she couldn't do that in Princeton. So she decided to go with a response that somewhat resembled the truth. "I left House's team because, I didn't belong there anymore. I was able to learn all I could from him. It was just time to move on." Masters looks at her and relief finally takes hold of her face. Masters smiles and nods in agreement. "It was why I left too, I just didn't fit in." Get the situation became a little uncomfortable as there wasn't really anything else to discuss so Masters awkwardly walks away from Cameron as she tells her that she'll keep her posted on the patient. Cameron just cracks up as Masters walks down the hall. This was something that she was going to have to get used to.

Masters had entered the locker room deciding that it was time for her to go home. She opened her locker and was interrupted when she heard someone behind her. She turns to see Prichard standing by his own locker as he lightly chuckles at the expression on Master's face. "Someone's in a hurry." Masters removes her lab coat and shoves it into the locker as she grabs her coat and puts in on. "Yeah well, it's been a long couple of days and we need to be here at eight tomorrow, so I just want to go home and go to bed." Prichard just smiles as he carefully opens his locker and grabs his bag. "Sounds like a plan. How about we grab something to eat before you head home?" Masters looks back at Prichard with a little uncertainty as Prichard continues, "I mean, it's be a long few days and we really haven't gotten to know each other very well and I just thought that it would be fun." Prichard closes his locker as he slings his bag over his head. "What do you say?"

Masters finishes getting her stuff together and then looks back at him. "I am a little hungry and could go for a burger right now, but you're buying." She walks by him towards the door and stops as she waits for him to move and walk out with her. Prichard gets the idea and heads out the door with her.

Bell was seated at her desks filling out the last of her paper work when her cell phone rang. She smiled when she seen the caller id. She just opens her phone up without saying hello and just says, "I was wondering when you were going to call." She smiles as she hears the voice on the other line.

"Well, I would have called sooner but I heard you had a case, I didn't want to call at an inappropriate time. For all I knew, I could have called you while you were elbow deep in someone's colon. And we really wouldn't want that now would we?" Bell chuckles at that response she missed his humor, it was as sick and twisted as hers. "So how are you, big brother?"

House is sitting down on his couch, in a semi-furnished home. There were still boxes and small stuffed animals scattered around the living room floor. "You know same old stuff. Impossible medical cases to solve, driving the boss lady crazy, selling my condo and moving to a bigger place because the wife said we needed the room. She's driving me crazy at home." House tries to lean back onto the couch but ends up leaning on something. House uses his free hand to remove the toy tea kettle and places it on the class coffee table.

"So I'm going to guess that you're to drive her crazy at work to get even? You do that anyway. If anything you should be nice to her, she'll never see that coming. That'll drive her crazy." Bell closes the file and paper work in front of her and turns the chair towards the window and leans back. "Besides, it's her first week back from leave. You should give her at least a week before you start off on the antics."

"Now I could, but then I wouldn't be me now would I?" House puts his feet on the table as he toes off his shoes. He was getting comfortable here even though he should be unpacking more of the boxing before his wife got home. He pause at that thought before is little sister pulled him away from it.

"No, you wouldn't" Bell was glad she found House. It made her feel better that there was another member of her family that was on the same wavelength as her. That there was someone she can connect with. Someone who had the same outside the box thought process as her. She had only known House for a short while. She figured out who he at her mother's funeral, when his mother had dragged him to the service. She noticed the similarities between him and her father, that's when she figured it out. She also wasn't surprised when he had already made that connection himself back when he was twelve. She chuckled lightly at the thought. "So would you like to hear the latest update on your former mod squad members?"

"Why did you think I called? There's not enough juicy gossip going on around here except the usual so... give me the down low, girlfriend." He had to admit he did miss both Masters and Cameron but he knew it was time for them to move on. Cameron while he hated to admit it, learned all she can from him, and Masters smart she just wasn't ready, that she still needed more work to do before she could ever continue. That's why he wrote the recommendation for her at county. He knew that his sister would have more patients with her than he ever would.

"Well, Masters did okay, but you were right. She needs 'seasoning' and Cameron might be pissed off because she lost a bet with me, but I still came up with the diagnosis."

"Which was?" He had to know what it was because he needed to know if she was really was anything like him, diagnostically speaking. They had pretty similar personalities but she didn't have the childhood that he had, and he was grateful for that. He wouldn't wish his past on his own worst enemy.

"Moersch-Woltman, I figured it out while I was in the morgue. The patient is going to live, albeit with some complications, but it will be manageable." House sat on his couch with a smile on his face, he realized that maybe she was a little like him because neither Cameron nor Masters would have been able to figure that out. That's when he heard the door open and then closed. He immediately sat straight up on the couch. Bell heard the door close through the phone, "The wife home."

"If I say no would you continue to talk to me?" House already knew what the answer was going to be, but he decided to ask anyway. "Nope, sorry bro you're on your own. Tell Lisa I said hi." House nods as he sees Cuddy walk into the living room and put her coat and briefcase on the table. She sees the mess in the living and also the fact that her husband only picked up half of the toys that were in the living room and barely opened and unpacked some of the boxes that were in the living. "Fine, but don't be surprised if you have to testify at a murder trial." House hears a light laugh as his sister wishes him a goodnight. "Night, Jen." House closes his phone as Cuddy comes to sit down next to him on the couch.

"You're sister?" She asks as she begins to remove her heels and places her stocking clad feet on the coffee table next to House's. House nods his head in response as he puts his arm around her to pull her closer.

"She was giving me an update on Masters and Cameron. They're both doing fairly well, by the way." House smiles at Cuddy as he makes that statement. Cuddy gives her husband a tired smile as she looks at him. House looks at Cuddy as he realizes how tired she is. "So how was your first day back from Maternity leave?" House sits like a very eager student on the first day of school, ready to learn for the day. Cuddy lets out a light, tired laugh as she sees the mocking look of interest on his face.

"Well, it was fine until my head of Diagnostics skipped out of work early to avoid clinic duty." House looked at her innocently but knew he had to answer before she killed him.

"Well, your Head of Diagnostics had to leave early because his nanny called and said something about a family emergency and she couldn't get a hold of the Dean of Medicine. Who happened stuck in a meeting without her cellphone." He looks at Cuddy satisfied with his answer and can tell that she was too tired to argue. She wants to be annoyed at him, but was glad that he came through for her to take care of the kids. His been coming through for her a lot lately and she was happy for it.

"So I take it the kids are asleep?" She looks around the room and waits patiently for his answer. House looks at her and it finally hits him how tired he is.

"The boys went to sleep pretty quickly, but Rachel took a little longer. I swear that kid gets more energetic every day. House lets his head rest on the back of the couch as Cuddy leans forwards and lays her head in the crook of his neck.

"She just excited about meeting her brothers. She's been waiting a long time to meet them." House lifts his head off the back of the couch and looks down at Cuddy. She lifts her head up to look at him.

"So have you." They stare at each other for a brief moment. House loved seeing her happy and that they were finally able to move on from everything. The fact that they now finally had a chance at a life together was something he never thought would be possible. House realized that he didn't have to keep his family at arms-length anymore. And that he was grateful for the second chance. House smiles at Cuddy as he takes a hold of her hand. "Hey, it's late. We're both tired. Why don't we head to bed, Dr. House?" Cuddy giggles slight as she gives him a quick peck on the lips.

"Okay, but I want to kiss the kids goodnight first. I'll meet you in the room." And with that they both get up from the couch and headed down the hallway, each wrapping one arm around the other's waist as Cuddy rested her head on House's shoulder.

Bell closes her phone after her conversation with House had ended. She they turned around and found Cameron standing in the doorway. 'Do I want to know you were talking to?" Cameron came closer to the desk and placed a folder in front of Bell.

"My brother, he was checking up on me." Bell says as she picks up the file and opens it. Cameron looks at her and smiles, "How is House?" Bell picks up her head and looks at her in surprised, but then realizes that she used to work for her brother and should have known she was going to figure it out sooner or later.

"When did you figure it out? When I was throwing the rubber ball at Masters and Prichard?" Cameron sat down in front of the desk as Bell continues to look at her.

"Actually that was part of it, but confirmation came when you stopped mid-sentence and walked out of the room. Apparently it's a family trait." Bell chuckles lighted at the remark, she liked knowing that she did have something in common with her brother. It made her feel like she wasn't the only one that acted that way.

"Good to know." Bell's smile grows as something else dawns on her. "So, about that bet, pay up." That statement made Cameron laugh out loud as she shook her head. Cameron gets up from the chair and makes tries to make an exit as Bell grabs her bag and follows her towards the elevator.

"Don't you walk away from me, I won the bet. You so owe me." Bell continued to show her logic as Cameron did her best to ignore her. Bell finally pulled the last card that made Cameron turn and face Bell. "You know I will just bug you until you cave and give me the money, you know this. You know who my brother is." Cameron just looks at her and realizes that she's right. So she reaches for her wallet and pulls out the cash and hands it to her. Bell takes the cash and puts it in her front pocket. "Thank you oh so much."

"You know Daniels thought you did a good job, and He wanted me to tell to meet with him on Monday, something about you running a new department." Bell just smirks as the doors to the elevator open and they step inside.

"I heard you got the Head of Immunology today too." Cameron nods as they stand side by side as they wait for the doors to close. A realization occurs to Cameron as they wait for the doors to close.

"Oh crap, we're House and Wilson." Bell looks at her in confusion as the doors close on them. This was going to be a very interesting working relationship.

_**AN- so there you have it I hope you like the ending and it was a little longer than previous chapters, but imagination ran away from me. I really do want to continue with these characters and I need to keep my writing skills in check. So I hope you all enjoyed this. Until the next time. **_


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